Spain's sex and booze resorts get a cold shower

Aug 4 2014 at 8:20 AM

A British tourist shouts at a girl in Punta Ballena street, in the Magalluf zone, in Calvia on Mallorca Island. Photo: JAIME REINA

Young British tourists walk down Punta Ballena street as they have fun in the Magalluf zone, in Calvia on Mallorca Island. Photo: AFP

British tourists sit in Punta Ballena street, in the Magalluf zone, in Calvia on Mallorca Island. Photo: AFP

Tourists wear a costume dress as they pose for a photo at Punta Ballena street in Magaluf, on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca. The Punta Ballena area has been famous since the 70's for its nightlife and is a favourite destination for mainly young British tourists, according to local media. Photo: Reuters

A tourist reacts at Punta Ballena street in Magaluf, on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca. Photo: Reuters

A tourist walks on the promenade at Magaluf beach in Mallorca, Spain. Photo: Getty Images

Wearing only underwear and angel wings, three young women wiggle their hips to entice customers to enter one of the many nightclubs in Magaluf, a Spanish beach resort notorious for its sex and booze excess.

"We came to get drunk, basically. Everyone knows Magaluf is partying big time," said Bruce Stenning, an 18-year-old from London who came to the Mediterranean island of Majorca with five friends.

See Also

"I came for the strippers," added one of his mates, James Pilkington, as he stood outside a bar on the Punta Ballena - the heart of the resort's nightlife - which advertised in English "the best lap dance".

They also slapped the nightclub and a firm that offers pub crawls, Carnage Magaluf, which organised the game, with a fine of 55,000 euros ($AU79,321).

Magaluf has many such firms where a guide takes large groups of youths from bar to bar to enjoy unlimited drinks for a flat fee, and also take part in games that mix alcohol and eroticism.

Most are organised by British businessmen, and some of them respect the law and some do not, said Montserrat Jaen, the tourism director general of the regional government of the Balearic Islands.

The Balearic Islands are fighting to end this type of "low cost" tourism which is restricted to "a few very small, concrete areas", she added.

Such resorts "are remnants and I think that in the long term they will convert" to the quality tourism that the Balearic Islands offer in many other places, she said.

Just hundreds of metres away from the Punta Ballena strip and its rowdy bars, yachts bob gently in crystal clear waters.

'People are never punished'

Calvia, the municipality Magaluf belongs to, introduced a bylaw on July 25 to regulate pub crawls which sets limits on the number of participants.

Five days later the municipality closed a second nightclub, this time for breaking the limit on the number of clients, said Joan Feliu, who is in charge of bar licensing at Calvia city hall.

In a region that is dependent on tourism - the Balearic Islands received 13 million visitors in 2013 who spent 12 billion euros ($16 billion) - local authorities traditionally only fine companies not tourists.

"People are never punished even though the law also stipulates a series of obligations for tourists," said Feliu.

Another bylaw was recently introduced banning "balconing" - jumping from one apartment balcony to another or from a balcony down into a swimming pool.

Several youths have been killed or seriously injured in recent years due to the "balconing" craze.